Meletius (Smotritsky): biography. Slavic grammar Meletius Smotritsky Slavic grammar Meletius Smotrytsky

Meletius Smotrytsky

One of the most gifted southern Russian scientists, the son of the Kamenets city clerk Gerasim Smotritsky, who wrote the preface and verses for the Ostrog Bible of 1581 and was the rector of the Ostrog school. M. gen. around 1578, studied at the Ostrog school, in 1601 he was sent by Konstantin Ostrozhsky to Vilna, to the Jesuit college; At the end of the course, he traveled around Germany and attended lectures in Leipzig and Wittenberg. In 1610, under the pseudonym of Theophilus Orthologus, he published in Vilna a very talented and passionately written polemical work against the Uniates and Latins: " Phrynos, or Lamentation of the Eastern Church, with an explanation of the tenets of faith "(Θρήνоς, to jest Lament jedynej sw. powszechnej apostolskiey wschodniey cerkwie", Vilna, 1610). "Frinos" was a huge success. Soon, however, M. begins to waver in his convictions, probably out of a desire for peace and unity of the churches. Having joined the Vilna Orthodox brotherhood, he at the same time conducts secret negotiations with the Uniates and dreams of ending disagreements with a public dispute, to which both sides initially agreed, but 3 days before the dispute, the Orthodox clergy and brothers refused to take part in it. When M. became convinced of the impossibility of reconciliation, he remained faithful to Orthodoxy, took monastic vows in 1618 or 1619 (until then he was called Maxim) and began to lead a strictly ascetic life, which again earned him the respect of his brothers. At the burial of the Vilna Archimandrite Karpovich, M., elected in his place and even earlier elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Polotsk by the Patriarch of Constantinople, delivered a sermon (published in Vilna in 1620), which constitutes one of the best examples of southern Russian oratory. Between 1620 and 1623 M. published a number of polemical treatises in Polish, in which he skillfully connects the cause of the Orthodox with the primordial political liberties of Lithuania and Poland. In November 1623, Uniate Bishop Josaphat Kuntsevich (see) was killed in Vitebsk, which caused reprisals from the Polish government. It was believed that Meletius, as an outstanding fighter of Orthodoxy, was in danger and that out of fear he then decided to accept the union, but first left for the East, hoping to arrange a general unification of the churches. But now it has been proven (S. Golubev, “Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mogila and his associates”, Kiev, 1883, Chapter III, pp. 80-240 and appendices) that there is a danger for M., who could not be convicted of inciting the citizens of Vitebsk , was very insignificant; He went to the East for a different purpose. The fact is that in Orthodox brotherhoods, especially in the oldest ones, like Vilna and Lvov, the main role has passed from the hierarchs to the lay brothers; although M. was “dressed in gold from head to toe,” the authorities did not give it to him. The proud M. decided, with the help of the Eastern patriarchs, to win what he believed was the proper position for the clergy and at the end of 1623 he went to Constantinople through Kiev, with the knowledge and blessing of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky, who fully sympathized with him in this matter. From Constantinople M. traveled to Palestine and at the end of 1625 returned to his homeland with letters destroying the stauropegy of brotherhoods. The rumor about these letters had already excited the Orthodox, and M. in Kyiv he was received very poorly: Zechariah Kopystensky (see) did not allow him into the Kiev-Pechersk monastery. The publication of the charters caused a whole storm: they were declared forged, and Meletius, together with Boretsky, were loudly called apostates and Uniates. To prove the falsity of these accusations, the Metropolitan and M. uttered an anathema against the Latins and Uniates, but this helped them little. The Vilna and Lvov brotherhoods sent to the Patriarch of Constantinople for clarification of the letters, and they did not skimp on the usual gifts. The Patriarch explained that the stauropegic rights of the elder brotherhoods cannot be destroyed. After this, M. did not dare to go to Vilna and had to remain in an extremely cramped position, “on someone else’s bread.” When M. began to ask for a position as abbot in the rich Derman monastery, the authorities agreed, but on the condition that he transferred to the union. M. agreed and was annexed on June 6, 1627, only asked to keep it secret, for the good of the matter: he hoped to attract many with his skillful policy. M.'s accession caused great joy in the Roman Curia. On September 8, 1627, M. organized a council in Kyiv, at which he undertook to compile a catechism for the Orthodox, and first to explain the main points of disagreement between the Orthodox and Catholics. In order not to be caught in treason, he himself informs the Vilna brothers about his relations with the Uniates, who allegedly want to “leave the father.” But he succeeds poorly in deception: there are persistent rumors among the people about his transition, and many Derman monks leave the monastery he runs; Only the Kyiv hierarchs believe him. On the 6th week of Lent, 1628, a council convened in Grodek, to which M. presented his explanation of the differences in confessions, which in his opinion were not important, so that only the unfair prejudice of the Orthodox interfered with the unity of churches and placed the people in difficult conditions. The Council found his considerations not unfounded and decided to prepare public opinion for the union of churches. Upon returning to Derman, M. worked on a treatise, which he called " Apology his journey to the East" ("Apologia peregrinatiey do Kraiòw wschodnych", Lvov, 1628); here he says that the purpose of his trip was to collect correct information about the tenets of the true faith, from which the Russians have recently retreated theologians (Zizanias, Philalethes, Orthologist, i.e. himself, etc.). He proposes to assemble a council and restore the unity of the churches, and flatters his compatriots, scolds the ignorant Greeks and deftly, as if in passing, points out the benefits that both the nobility, now humiliated, and the people, who only then will wipe away their daily spills, will receive from submission to Rome. tears. M. sent one copy of his “Apology” to Peter Mogila, and the other to Metropolitan Job of Boretsky, and asked the latter, after examining it, to publish the book. Mogila and Boretsky could not agree to this, since M. went much further than they expected: they were ready to allow the honorary, so to speak, titular supremacy of the pope and wanted reconciliation with Catholics on the basis of equality - and M. offered complete submission and recognition the entire past is a mistake and even heresy. But they also could not speak out openly against M., since they were compromised by their previous agreements with him. Having waited in vain for an answer from them, M. sent the manuscript of the “Apology” to Sakovich, and already at the beginning of August 1628 the first pages of the book appeared in the Polish translation. Copies of them also ended up in Kyiv among those who had gathered for the cathedral, and led the Orthodox to extreme anger against the author. On August 13, commissioners from the council came to him and asked him whether he intended to abandon the Apology, since otherwise he would not be allowed to attend the council. M. tried to defend his book, but, seeing the persistence of the deputies, he had to admit the possibility of corrections and even suspension of printing. He soon realized how incensed the people were against him, and wrote a letter of repentance to the Metropolitan, after reading which the council sent him a second deputation, demanding a complete renunciation of the Apology. On August 15, M. was forced to participate in the solemn anathematization of his book, and he trampled it with his feet and burned it with fire (he laid a significant part of his blame on the translator and publisher of the book). On August 24, M. left Kyiv and immediately protested in print against his forced abdication. From then on, he openly declared himself a Uniate and completely submitted to the leadership of the Jesuits. In 1629, M. published “Parenesis, or a Reminder to the Russian People” (“Paraeneisis albo napomnienie do narodu ruskiego”, Krakow), where, justifying his transition to the union, he talks about the decline of schools among the Orthodox and proposes a special patriarchy, but generally holds on moderate tone and expresses warm sympathy for the suffering of the people. In the same year, priest Andrei Muzhilovsky sharply and energetically objected to his “Apology”, also in Polish, with the book “Antidote”, and M. answers him with the treatise “Exethesis... to jest Rozprawa miedzy Apologią y Antidotem” (Lvov, 1629), already in an irritated and picky tone. For the "Massacre" Catholics nicknamed Meletius the Polish Cicero. That same year, in October, M. participated in the Lvov Cathedral of the Uniates with the Orthodox, on which he had high hopes. But the council was not a success, since almost no one from the Orthodox came. Since then, M. lived peacefully in his Derman monastery, torturing himself with hair shirts and fasting and collecting a library. He died on December 27, 1633.

The only work of M. that outlived him for a long time was compiled by him in the first period of his activity, when he was a simple monk and teacher at the school of the Vilna brotherhood: this is his grammar. M. was an excellent philologist for that time; he taught artes humaniores in Latin and compared the Slavic New Testament with the Greek original; at the same time, he taught the Slavic language, which in the south-west of Russia, due to the strong Polonization of the spoken language, became incomprehensible even to priests, and yet a thorough knowledge of it was extremely necessary for numerous publishers and reference books. Since the grammar of Lavrentiy Zizaniya (q.v.) was unsatisfactory, M. compiled and published his own in Vilna in 1618, under the title: “Slavic grammar correct syntagma according to the care of the many-sinful deceiver Meletius Smotrisky”; it was reprinted with additions in Evue, near Vilna, in 1619 (this edition is mistakenly considered the first; a copy of the 1618 edition is available in the Rumyantsev Museum), then in Vilna in the same year; passed, as the only suitable manual, to Moscow (ed. 1648 and 1721); Lomonosov studied on it. In addition to etymology and syntax, it contains brief rhetoric and literature (see A. N. Chudinov, “Essay on the history of linguistics,” Voronezh, 1872, pp. 176-182). For its time, this is an excellent book, showing how much M. surpassed most of his contemporaries in clarity of mind and talent for presentation.

See "Saulus et Paulus ruthenae unionis, sanguine b. Josaphat transformatus sive Meletius Smotriscius per Jacobum Suszam" (1666; new edition by Martynov, Brussels 1864; the same Martynov reprinted M.'s "Apology" in Leipzig in 1863) ; P. Pekarsky, "Representatives of Kyiv scholarship in the half of the 17th century." ("Notes of the Fatherland", 1862, No. 2, p. 566 et seq.); K. S. Elenevsky, "M. Smotritsky" ("Orthodox Review", 1861, No. 6-8); N. Zasadkevich, “M. Smotritsky as a philologist” (Kyiv University News, 1875, Nos. 2 and 4).

A. Kirpichnikov.

(Brockhaus)

Meletius Smotrytsky

(Maxim Gerasimovich) - Archbishop of Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mstislav.

Born in 1577 in the family of a Kamenets clerk, later rector of the Ostrog College, Gerasim Danilovich Smotritsky, who wrote the preface and poems for the Ostrog Bible of 1581.

He received his primary education under the direct guidance of his father and the Greek Cyril Loukaris, later Patriarch of Constantinople.

After the death of his father, Meletius was sent by Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky to continue his education at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Vilna Jesuit Academy, where he studied from 1594 to 1600 (according to other sources, in 1601-1604). From 1601, after Lavrenty Zizaniy, he became the spiritual mentor of the young Belarusian prince Bogdan Bogdanovich Solomeretsky. Together with him he went to Western Europe to improve his science - to the Universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, where the ideas of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli then dominated.

Returning to his homeland in 1607, Meletius spent some time on the estate of Prince Solomeretsky near Minsk, where, as Jacob Susha testifies, he enjoyed enormous authority among the common people, who “flocked to him as an oracle.”

Around 1608, Meletius went to the Vilna Orthodox Brotherhood at the Holy Trinity Monastery, where at that time one of the centers of Orthodox opposition to the advancing Counter-Reformation was located. Here he met one of the outstanding figures of Belarusian culture - a polemicist writer, later Archimandrite of the Vilna Holy Spiritual Monastery Leonty (Karpovich, † 1620), and became his faithful comrade-in-arms. In 1610 he published a talented polemical work against the Uniates and Latins, called “Frinos” (“Lament”), that is, “The Lament of the Eastern Church.” In this book, Meletius called for the consolidation of the forces of the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine in the fight against advancing Catholicism. Around 1615, Meletius wrote in Polish the Treatise on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, as well as the Palinodia.

From approximately 1615 to 1617, Meletius was in Kyiv; in 1617 he returned to Vilna, was a teacher in the town of Evye (now Vievis) 40 km from Vilna, taught “liberal sciences” and the Slavic language there. In 1617 he was tonsured a monk by Archimandrite Leonty (Karpovich, 11620).

From 1618 to 1620 he was the rector of the Kyiv fraternal school. In 1619, “Grammar of the Slavic correct syntagma...” was published in Evye. This book glorified the name of Meletius as an outstanding scientist not only in the Slavic world, but also in many countries of Western Europe. The publication of "Grammar" refuted the prevailing opinion in the Vatican, which denied any possibility of the development of science and literature in the Slavic language. The Slavic grammar of Meletius was destined to have a long life in the Moscow state in theological and secular schools in the post-Petrine era, until the middle of the 19th century. M. V. Lomonosov called “Grammar” “the gates of learning.”

The years 1620-1623 were especially fruitful in Meletius’s literary work. On November 2, 1620, Meletius delivered a memorial address in Vilna at the burial of Bishop Leonty (Karpovich), published under the title “Kazan for an honest burial... of Mr. Leonty Karpovich” (1620). Twice, in April and June 1621, Meletius published “Justification of Innocence...”, to which Uniate Metropolitan Joseph Velyamin Rutsky responded with “Double guilt” with “Addition”. In the same year, Meletius wrote and published the “Defense of Justification,” to which the Uniates immediately responded with the “Test of the Defense.” From the side of Meletius follows "Reproach" (1622).

In 1619, on behalf of the Eastern Patriarchs, Patriarch Theophan of Jerusalem arrived in Moscow to organize church affairs in Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1620, Patriarch Theophan consecrated Meletius as Bishop of Polotsk and Vitebsk and elevated him to the rank of archbishop.

Archbishop Meletios took an active part in the socio-political life of the country. His messages with calls for the defense of faith and nationalities were distributed throughout the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The messages of Archbishop Meletius in 1621-1622 played an important role in popular uprisings in Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Polotsk.

On November 12, 1623, when the residents of Vitebsk, driven to despair by the anti-human actions of the Uniate Archbishop Josaphat (Kuntsevich), dealt with him and threw his body into the Dvina, Archbishop Meletius was declared the main culprit of the “shed blood of Josaphat.” It was assumed that Bishop Meletius, as a fighter for Orthodoxy, was in danger, and at the end of 1623 he left Vilna forever.

From 1624 to 1625, Archbishop Meletius was in the Middle East, hoping to arrange the unification of the Churches. However, it later became clear that he went to the East for a completely different purpose. The fact is that in the Orthodox brotherhoods, especially in the oldest ones, like Vilna and Lvov, the hierarchs have lost their former power. The proud Archbishop Meletios decided, with the help of the Eastern patriarchs, to win what he considered to be the proper position in these brotherhoods. He visited Constantinople and Palestine and in 1625 returned to Russia with letters destroying the stauropegy of brotherhoods. This caused a whole storm of indignation. Archbishop Meletius was called an apostate and a Uniate. In order to somehow justify himself, Bishop Meletius, together with Metropolitan Job of Kyiv (Boretsky, 11631), with whose blessing he traveled to the East, pronounced an anathema against the Latins and Uniates. But this did not help him much. The Vilna and Lvov brotherhoods turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople for clarification of the letters. The Patriarch explained that the stauropegic rights of the elder brotherhoods cannot be destroyed. After this, Archbishop Meletius found himself in cramped circumstances; he did not dare to go to Vilna, fearing outrage. He began to ask for a place in the rich Derman monastery. The authorities expressed agreement, but with the condition of its transition to a union. Archbishop Meletius was forced to agree with this demand and on June 6, 1627, he joined the union, but only asked to keep it secret for now, hoping to attract many with him through skillful politics. However, he did not succeed. In 1628, at the Council of Grodek, Archbishop Meletios explained the difference between confessions. The Council took his explanation into account, and it was decided to prepare public opinion for the unification of the Churches. After the Council, Archbishop Meletios worked on a treatise, which he called “Apology for the Journey to the East.” In this work, he spoke out for complete submission to the pope, renounced his pre-Uniat works and condemned the activities of Orthodox polemical writers. In addition to the Apology, during the Uniate period of his activity, Archbishop Meletius created Protestation (1628), Parenesis (1629), and Exetesis (1629). The Orthodox world greeted the Uniate works of Archbishop Meletius with indignation and condemned them not only in public responses, but also in personal correspondence. When copies of the Apology reached the people who had gathered in Kyiv for the Council, they demanded that Archbishop Meletius renounce his work. He tried to evade it, but no tricks helped. On August 15, 1628, he participated in the solemn anathematization of his book. On August 24, Archbishop Meletius left Kyiv and immediately protested in print against his forced abdication. From then on, he openly declared himself a Uniate and completely submitted to the leadership of the Jesuits.

He spent the rest of his days in the rich Derman monastery, which was administered by the Uniates.

Proceedings:

Antigraphi. - 1608.

Phrynos, or Lamentation of the Eastern Church. - 1610. Slavic grammars correct syntagma... - 1619,1629,1648,1721, 1755. Kazan to the honest cellar of the most honorable and honorable husband, lord and father of Leonty Karpovich. - 1620.

Justification of innocence. - 1621. Defense of justification. - 1621. Reproof. - 1622.

Justification. - 1623. Subplication. - 1623.

Apology for a journey to the East. - 1628. Protest. - 1628.

Parenesis (Admonition) to the Vilna Holy Spiritual Brotherhood, and in its person to all the Russian people there. - 1629. Exetesis - 1629.

Literature:

Tolstoy M.V. Stories from the history of the Russian Church. - M., 1873, p. 491, 494. Ambrose (Ornatsky), archbishop. History of the Russian hierarchy: in 7 hours - M., 1807-1815, part 1, p. 229.

Golubev S. T. Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mohyla and his associates: in 2 volumes - Kyiv, 1883-1898, vol. 1, ch. 3.

Illustrated crucifixion calendar for 1883 // Ed. A. Gatsuk. - M., 1883, p. 133. Bulgakov S.V. Handbook for priests and clergy. - Kyiv, 1913, p. 1409. Stroev P. M. Lists of hierarchs and abbots of monasteries of the Russian Church. - St. Petersburg, 1877, p. 498.

N. D[urnovo]. Nine hundredth anniversary of the Russian hierarchy 988-1888. Dioceses and bishops. - M., 1888, p. 31.

Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. - 1869, September, p. 364. - 1870, July, p. 113,120. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. - M., 1951, No. 1, p. 48.

1890, February, p. 418-420. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 41 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907. - T. 19 (book 37), p. 23-24.

Russian Orthodox Church 988-1988. Essays on the history of the I-XIX centuries. - M., 1988. - Issue. 1, p. 60.

Short V. G. Meletius // Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Rus'. - St. Petersburg, 1993. - Issue. 3, part 2, p. 346-350. Athanasius (Martos), archbishop. Belarus in historical, state and church life. - Minsk, 2000, p. 205-221. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church: in 9 volumes - M., 1994-1997. - T. 6, p. 227-229, 245-246, 339, 340, 403-406, 411-416, 429-430, 438-443, 445, 446, 448-458, 461, 469, 602, 603, 618-621, 623, 624, 630, 633.

Meletius Smotrytsky

Archbishop of Polotsk, Bishop of Vitebsk and Mstislav, Archimandrite of Vilna and Derman, a man famous among his contemporaries for his knowledge of learned languages ​​and in general the Verbal Sciences, was born and raised in Orthodoxy, tonsured in the Orthodox Vilna Holy Spirit Monastery, and held monastic positions there. He had the misfortune of living in such a century and in such a place where Orthodoxy was then subject to strong and cruel persecution from the Papists and Uniates, and where only those who rejected them were safe. At first he was distinguished by his zealous defense of the Eastern Church, and when the spreading Union oppressed the Orthodox and seduced many, Meletius, under the name Theophilus Orthologist in Vilna in 1610, in 4 parts of a sheet, he published a book in Polish called Θρενоς, i.e. Lamentation of the Eastern Church at the falling away of some from the ancient Greek Faith and from obedience to the Patriarch of Constantinople[The title of this book is Θρενоς to est Lament jedney S. Powszechney Apostolskiey, Wschodniey Cerkwie z obiasneniem Dogmat Wiary, pierwey z Graeckiego na Slowienski, a teraz z Slowienskiego na Polski przelozony przez Theophila Orthologa, teyze Swietey Wschodniey Cerkwie Syna . W Wilnie Roku Panskiego 1610 in 4 to ( Cry,or the Complaint of the United Apostolic Eastern Church together With explanation of the Articles of Faith,translated from Greek into Slavic,and from Slavic-into Polish,made by Theophilus Orscholog,the same Holy Eastern Church son. - Polish), together with the Catechism 218 quarter sheets.], with Polish translation of the book Statement of the Articles of Faith, Around that time, Cyril Lukar composed it in Greek and Latin. On this book, the Jesuit Skarga of the same year in Krakow published his essay entitled Warning to Rus' to Polish language. Some and others of the Orthodox then wrote against the Uniates; and many agreed that it would be better to send their children to be raised in Lutheran schools rather than in Catholic and Uniate schools. Meletius himself sent two of his relatives, Eustathius Gisel and George Smotrytsky, to continue their studies at the then glorious Lutheran Gymnasium, which was in Silesian Bethany. This hatred of the Union was the reason that many Princes and even some Spirituals surrendered to the Lutheran Confession, and in 1599 there was a solemn meeting in Vilna for the Confederation of Neunites with Lutherans. Meletius, however, was not visible in this conspiracy, although later he himself admitted to an inclination towards it. In 1620, when the Orthodox Bishop of Vladimir and Berestensky, Leonty Karpovich, the faithful and zealous Shepherd of his flock, died, Meletius honored his memory with a beautiful Funeral Oration, which was published in Vilna the same year and printed on 4 sheets under the title: Kazan to the honest cellar of Father Leonty Karpovich,Bishop of Volodymyr,and Berestinsky,Archimandrite of Vilna through Meletius Smotrytsky. This Word made it even more noticeable among the Orthodox. Meanwhile, the Uniates succeeded everywhere and oppressed the Neunits. The Kiev Metropolis itself, to which all the Orthodox Churches beyond the Dnieper belonged, had already been taken over by the Uniate Metropolitans since 1596, and only Uniate Bishops were also produced for all the Orthodox Volyn and Lithuanian Dioceses. Therefore, in 1620, Theophan, Patriarch of Jerusalem, returning from Moscow, and from the Patriarch of Constantinople, having been assigned to inspect and administer the Kiev Exarchate, when he visited Kiev, he heard bitter complaints from the Orthodox about oppression not only in the Faith, but also in the estates. The Little Russian Hetman, Peter Konatevich Sahaidachny, the foremost of the defenders of Orthodoxy, begged this Patriarch to consecrate a Metropolitan to Kyiv, and to the other Dioceses belonging to this Metropolis of Orthodox Bishops. Therefore, the Patriarch, not treating the Polish King, who then owned all those countries, dedicated Job Boretsky as Metropolitan in Kyiv; and in 6 Dioceses of Bishops, and between them Meletius Archbishop of Polotsk with the title and Bishop of Vitebsk and Mstislav, giving him and the Archimandry of the Monasteries of Vilna and Derman. The King, offended by this order without his permission, ordered to catch all these Bishops, and they could only visit their Dioceses secretly, or rule through Charters. The Uniate Bishops of those Dioceses aggravated the persecution against them and all Orthodox Christians. On this occasion, Meletius published a book in defense of the newly ordained Bishops and Orthodoxy, entitled Weryfikacia Niewinnosci, and when enemies took up arms against this book, he also published Obrona Weryfikacyi, then Appendix and then Elenchus Pism uszczypliwych. Meanwhile, the Orthodox people persecuted in Belarus were so upset that in Vitebsk, 1623, on November 12, they killed the Uniate Polotsk Archbishop Josaphat Kuntsevich, the most zealous persecutor of Orthodoxy. Kulchinsky and other Uniate writers claim that Meletius gave this evil advice to his flock. Be that as it may, this act brought about even more severe persecution against the Orthodox; and murderers are executed by death by Royal Decree. Meletius was forced to hide completely and went to Greece, and from there to Palestine. For three years he wandered through the Eastern regions almost without shelter, and finally, in 1626, he returned to his Fatherland: he saw that he was blamed by his own people and by others for escaping to the East. Why, out of despair and fear, to protect himself, did he have the weakness to surrender to the Union and, being in his Derman Monastery, presented his recognition of the Union to the Uniate Metropolitan Velyamin of Rut at the beginning of 1627, and on February 23 of the same year he swore allegiance to the Pope the following year, 1628 , wrote this year to reproach the Eastern Orthodox Church in Russian Apology for his Eastern wanderings as if for research about the true Church and Faith, which he did not know until then, he scattered it in lists among the people, and the Polish translation from it of the same year was sent for printing to Lvov. Metropolitan Job of Kiev, having received a Russian copy of this book and several Polish printed sheets of it, and having received a Royal order from the previous Sejm to gather help for the upcoming war, convened a Spiritual Council in Kiev on August 15, 1628, to which Archbishop Meletius Smotrytsky also arrived for two days before the Feast, and stopped at the Metropolitan St. Michael's Monastery assigned to him for his stay. On the same day, attorneys came to him from the Metropolitan and from the assembled Orthodox Bishops and the entire Spiritual Council, demanding an explanation about his book. Frightened by this demand, Meletius the next day, August 14, wrote a letter in his own hand to the Metropolitan asking himself for forgiveness and leniency. On the same day after lunch, the Metropolitan with the Bishops and Clergy had personal negotiations with him and demanded that he sign the renunciation of his errors that had already been prepared for him, to be read to all the people from the Cathedral on the Feast, but he did not sign what was proposed to him, but his own handwritten He gave it to them and allowed them to read it during the Liturgy. In this explanation, he admitted that he was partly guilty of errors against the Orthodox Dogmas, but attributed most of his errors contained in the book to the malicious intent of Archimandrite of the Transfiguration of the Dubno Monastery Cassian Sakovich, whom he trusted to publish his Apology in Polish. In conclusion, he asked for forgiveness for everything and promised to be careful in the future, and as proof of this he agreed to tear up his book in front of them and trample underfoot. On the Feast of August 15, he, with the Metropolitan and the Bishops, celebrated the Liturgy in full vestments at the Great Assumption Church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and there, after reading the Gospel, Meletius’ renunciation and repentance were read from the Chair, and his book was torn, trampled and burned on the Ambon with a curse her and the publisher Cassian Sakovich. On August 16, for the signing of the Metropolitan and Meletius himself, also the Archbishop of Smolensk and Chernigov Isaiah Kopinsky, Bishop of Lutsk and Ostrog Isaak Borisovich, Bishop of Chelm and Belzh Paisius Ippolitovich, Bishop of Pinsk and Turov Avraamy Stagonsky, Kiev-Pechersk Archimandrite Peter Mohyla and many other Spirits nykh, a printed Council Explanation was published to the people that they stand firmly in the Orthodox Eastern Faith, do not think about retreating to the Union and promise under oath not to retreat, and besides, they exhort the entire Orthodox people. After which he was released, or as others write, Meletius himself left with an insult. But rumors began to dissipate among the people that allegedly it was not the Metropolitan himself and the Bishops and not Meletius himself who tore, trampled and burned his book in the Church, but some only the Presbyters. To this end, the Metropolitan and the Bishops of the same August 24 issued a printed Letter signed by them, refuting this rumor, and Meletius, having left Kiev, wrote the following September 7 in the Derman Monastery and published it in Polish Protest, allegedly the Metropolitan and the Bishops forced him to do all this against his will. At the same time, he released to the people his entire Apology, and after that, by December 12, 1628, he wrote a book entitled, Parenesis,or the Exhortation of the Vilna Brethren at the Church of the Holy Spirit. This book, written in the Polish-Russian language, was printed on 4 sheets in 1629 in Krakow. In it, Meletius openly advises all Orthodox Russians to unite with the Roman Church, and yet he was not ashamed of his own work, published 18 years before in Vilna, under the title Cry, say: “My writings in Lamentations almost all smell of Lutheranism and Calvinism, partly in all chapters, and especially in the Catechism, at the end.” Here he declares the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lucar a Heretic, talking about the non-Orthodox interpretation of the Creed he read in Constantinople. By such humiliation of himself and others he tried to earn the favor of the enemies of the Eastern Church! Pope Urban VIII sent him a Letter of Permission granting him the Archbishopric of Hierapolis. But he no longer accepted the Diocese, but lived as an Archimandrite in the Derman Monastery until his death from inflammation of the insides on January 17, 1663. But the Orthodox during his lifetime did not yet fail to publicly denounce him for treason. Andrei Muzhilovsky, Archpriest Slutsky and Kopylensky, and Gelasy Diplitsky wrote an objection to his Apology; first essay under the name Antidote printed in 1629, and the latter under the name Antapology 1632

The life of this Archbishop was described in more detail by the Uniate Bishop of Chelm, Jacob Susha, and published in 1665 in Rome under the title Saulus et Paulus ( Saul and Paul.- lat.); and in short Kulchinsky, in his book Specimen Ecclesiae Ruthenicae ( Example of the Russian Church.- lat.), also published in Rome in 1733. But both wrote as Uniates about their fellow believer.

The most important Meletian work for us is Slavic Grammar, called Slavic grammars correct Syntagma by consuming many sins Mnikha Meletius Smotritsky in Kinovia of the Church Brotherhood of Vilnius,at the Temple of the Descent of the Most Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, founded by the wandering acquired and acquired during the years of the incarnation of God the Word 1618,ruling Apostolic Throne of the Great Church of Constantinople to the Ecumenical Patriarch G. Father Timothy;Kinovius of Vilna, representing G. Father Leonty Karpovich Archimandrite. Printed in the 8th lobe of a sheet in Evyu near Vilna in 1619. This grammar is much more complete and correct than the first Slavic by Laurentius Zizanius (see article on LaurentiaZizania) It has already added the case of names Declarative or Prepositional; Declensions of names are divided into four Nouns and a fifth Adjective. There are seven kinds of names: masculine, feminine, neuter, common, every, perplexed, and general. Conjugations 2; 5 pledges; Moods and Tenses 6. In Prosody, following the example of Zizanium and Greek Grammar, his main letters are divided into long AND,Yat And Omega; brief E And ABOUT; bi-temporal A,I and Izhitsa. According to this division, his feet are tonic. This Grammar was printed a second time in Vilna in 1629 in 8 sheets; for the 3rd time in Moscow under Patriarch Joseph in 1648 in 4 parts of the sheet, but with some additions and changes in the rules and with omissions. All Greek and Latin terms, printed in their own letters in Meletieva, are turned off here, perhaps due to the lack of Greek and Latin letters in the Moscow Printing House. Moreover, the following has been added to this edition: 1) Reasoning of the Greek Maxim O the benefits of Grammar,Rhetoric and Philosophy and some remarks on the amendment of the Slavonic books; 2) Estate of the Names of Saints according to the ABC order with translation of their meanings, and others without translation, with the meaning of only the Monthly numbers in the Saints; 3) Grammar parsing some poems. Due to these additions, some incorrectly call the Grammar itself Maximova. In 1721, by order of Sovereign Peter the Great, the fourth edition of this Grammar was printed in Moscow in 8 parts of a sheet, corrected and multiplied by the typographical proofreader Feodor Polikarpov. Dobrovsky, in his Slavina, says that Smotritsky Grammar also printed in 1755 in Rymnik, Wallachia.

MELETIY SMOTRITSKY(before Maximus became a monk) (1578–1633). He studied at the Ostroh school, and in 1601 he entered the Vilna Jesuit College. After completing the course, he traveled around Germany and attended lectures in Leipzig and Wittenberg. In 1610, under the pseudonym Theophilus Ortologa, he published a book in Polish Phrynos or the cry of the one Holy, universal Apostolic Eastern Church with an explanation of the tenets of faith directed against the Uniates. However, Meletius's beliefs regarding Orthodoxy soon changed; in his next work he develops the idea that the difference between the Western and Eastern churches is insignificant.

Around 1616, Meletius taught liberal sciences and the Slavic language in the schools of the Vilna monastery using a grammar he himself compiled (published in Vilna in 1618). This book was of great importance for the unification of churches in the southwest of Russia, where, thanks to increased Polonization, the Slavic language was forgotten.

Meletius's grammar appeared in Moscow (published here in 1648, 1721), and it was from it that M.V. Lomonosov studied.

Meletius became a monk in 1618, and, being a member of the Vilna Orthodox brotherhood and the Vilna archbishop, began relations with the Uniates.

In 1623, Meletius went to Constantinople through Kyiv, and from there to Palestine, according to some, to accept the union; others (Golubev S. Peter Mohyla and his associates, Kyiv, 1898) believed that the purpose of the trip of the proud Meletius was to limit the autonomy of Western brotherhoods. On behalf of the Eastern patriarchs, he presented a letter striking at the sovereignty of fraternal corporations. Rumors about the contents of the letter spread before his return to his homeland. Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Zacharias Kopystensky did not allow Meletius into the monastery; he was called an apostate, a Uniate, and the charter was called a forgery. Not daring to appear in Vilna, Meletius asked for a place in the Derman monastery. It was promised to him on the condition of joining the union. Meletius agreed and in 1627 secretly joined the union. In the same year, on his initiative, a council was convened in Kyiv, at which Meletius promised to compile a catechism for the Orthodox. In 1628, Meletius presented at the Grodno Council an explanation of the difference in confessions, which, in his opinion, were insignificant. His arguments were found to be sound, and it was decided to convene a new local council to discuss them. Meletius hastened to finish Apology his wanderings to the East (Lvov, 1628). He explained the purpose of his trip by his desire to learn from the elders of the Eastern Church about the dogmas of piety. Convinced of the superiority of the Roman Church, Meletius proposes Apologies the Orthodox to submit to it, pointing out the benefits associated with it. One copy Apologies Meletius sent one to Peter Mogila and another to Metropolitan Job of Boretsky for consideration, but received no response from them.

In August 1628 the beginning appeared in print Apologies in Polish, which infuriated the Orthodox. The representatives of the council demanded that Meletius renounce his book. After much hesitation, Meletius yielded, and Apology was anathematized. However, upon leaving Kyiv, Meletius immediately wrote a protest against his forced abdication. From then on, he openly calls himself a Uniate and begins to fight Orthodoxy. In 1629 he appears Perenesis, or a reminder to the Russian people from M. Smotritsky. The book appears in the same year Antidote priest Muzhilovsky, who sharply objected Apologies Smotritsky. Meletius answered him Exetesis- a treatise written no less harshly.

Meletius wrote nothing more and lived quietly in the Derman Monastery until his death on December 27, 1633.